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Friday, March 30, 2012

Testosterone Therapy Improves Memory

Testosterone spray may offer potential therapy to slow cognitive decline in postmenopausal women. According to Sonia Davison, M.D., PhD, the study's lead investigator and a postdoctoral research fellow at Monash University, Melbourne, "Women have a higher risk of developing dementia compared to men."

Researchers compared a control group of 30 women who received no treatment with a group of nine healthy women in early menopause (ages 47 to 60) who knowingly received testosterone spray on their skin for six months. According to Davison, the spray dosage returned testosterone levels in the blood to those typically of young women of childbearing age.

All women's cognitive functions were tested with a battery of computerized tests that can detect even the slightest changes in cognitive performance. Researchers tested the women's memory through their ability to recall items from a grocery list that was read aloud to them. At the study's start, the two groups did not differ dramatically in these test results. After 26 weeks, however, the untreated controls showed no significant differences between their initial while final test results and the testosterone-treated group improved their verbal learning and memory, Davison was quoted as saying.

"This is exciting in that the testosterone-treated women were all healthy, with no cognitive impairment, and there was a definite treatment effect of the testosterone spray. Testosterone may play a protective role against dementia, "Davison stated....read more